Union seeks court reversal of floating hotel approval at Vancouver Convention Centre | Daily Hive

Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)

A major local hospitality union has launched a legal challenge against the City of Vancouver over City Council’s approval last month of a rezoning application to create a sizeable floating hotel next to the Vancouver Convention Centre.

Unite Here Local 40 has filed a petition in the Supreme Court of British Columbia seeking to overturn the April 14, 2026, decision that approved the permanent six-storey floating hotel just off the seawall of the convention centre’s West Building.

The petition asks the court to send the proposal back for a new public hearing process.

The project was proposed by Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre (VHFC) and Finnish hotel developer Sunborn Group, which is known for its floating hotel properties in Central London and Gibraltar.

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The union’s case focuses on their accusations that the public hearing process was compromised because materials released before the public hearing did not accurately reflect the scale and visual impact of the development — the perceived obstruction of views of Burrard Inlet and the North Shore mountains from certain vantage points of the seawall pathway.

The petition alleges that new conceptual artistic renderings shown during last month’s public hearing date presented substantially different perspectives of how the hotel would affect the waterfront compared with earlier materials made available during the public consultation period since early 2025. They allege that those visuals “minimized” the visual impact the floating hotel would have on the views from the area.

“This project should not have been approved,” said Zailda Chan, president of Unite Here Local 40, in a statement this week. “Council approved a massive luxury hotel on Vancouver’s waterfront without giving the public the full picture. Vancouver residents deserve a fair and transparent public process, not one that erodes public trust.”

Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)

It should also be noted that the details and design of a project can change during the rezoning application review process by City staff, which provides directions and recommendations to the proponent throughout the process.

In practice, City staff referral reports and final rezoning recommendations to City Council ahead of a public hearing can differ from a proponent’s original rezoning application submission for public consultation, including City staff-mandated refinements to project statistics, conditions, public benefits, density, height, or form developed through City staff’s review process. However, the dispute in this case does not appear to centre on substantive design changes to the proposed floating hotel itself, but rather on whether additional conceptual artistic renderings and perspectives presented during the public hearing more fully illustrated the impacts of the same underlying proposal than materials previously disclosed to the public.

To put it clearly, the question at hand is whether a proponent should face procedural consequences for providing supplemental conceptual artistic renderings and details during their “applicant presentation” to City Council during the public hearing, when such visuals offer greater detail and/or perspectives from additional vantage points that are still based on the same design concept outlined in the rezoning application.

The remaining procedural question is whether the additional visuals merely clarified existing view impacts or introduced materially different impressions of the project that the public did not have adequate opportunity to review beforehand.

A proponent could offer additional information and visuals during the public hearing, based on the concerns and other feedback received during the City’s formal public consultation process that begins shortly after the application’s submission — long before the public hearing date. Proponents are allowed to elaborate further on their proposal at hand during the public hearing prior to City Council’s vote. This could be provided as a measure to openly address the concerns raised.

Prior to this public hearing date, one of the most common concerns raised by members of the public who were opposed to the floating hotel was the perceived impact on the views. This was evident in both the written submissions to City Council in the days leading up to the public hearing, as well as the City’s previous formal public consultation process beginning in 2025, which received about 110 submissions.

In City staff’s referral dated March 10, 2026, about one month before the public hearing, it was stated that the public consultation’s “comments in support highlighted the floating hotel as a unique addition that would activate the waterfront, address Vancouver’s hotel room shortage, and enhance tourism. Concerns focused on obstructed waterfront views, environmental and marine impacts, and the loss of public access and open water space in one of the city’s most iconic and heavily used public areas.”

Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)

Unite Here Local 40, which represents many unionized hotel staff at some of Metro Vancouver’s largest and most prominent hotel properties, expressed opposition throughout the rezoning application process, including during the public hearing.

“It would wall off public views, dominate the shoreline and effectively privatize a portion of our shared harbour for the, harbourfront for the benefit of a single developer,” said Michelle Travis during the public hearing on April 14, 2026, speaking on behalf of the union.

“Having looked at the application materials, there are many mocked-up aerial views of how the flotilla will look. None of them really illustrate just how much of the public views will be obstructed from public popular gathering spots along the parts of the seawall.”

Sunborn Evolution Vancouver, the name of the floating hotel, will have 250 guest rooms and a publicly accessible main level with restaurants, bars, and lounges, with this main level directly connected to the seawall pathway by a publicly accessible pedestrian bridge. Other fixed connections to the seawall pathway will reach the publicly accessible large dock on the west side of the floating hotel, where there will be a cafe, spa access, and seating for the public to enjoy the views at water level — as a public benefit of the project.

The floating hotel, which essentially functions like a barge as it does not have any built-in propulsion, will have a length of 136 metres (431 ft.), a width of 18 metres (60 ft.), a floor area of about 16,000 sq. metres (172,000 sq. ft.), and a displacement in the water of about 5,400 tonnes.

During the public hearing, supporters of the project said the floating hotel would support the convention centre’s business (providing accommodations options for event attendees), provide much-needed additional hotel rooms, and provide a substantial boost in pedestrian traffic for this part of the seawall, which sees lower volumes throughout much of the late fall, winter, and early spring periods. Only Sean Orr, a COPE city councillor, voted against the project.

Sunborn Evolution Vancouver floating hotel f10

Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Dialog/Sunborn International Holding)

Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)

Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre owns the water lot in front of the convention centre’s West Building. So far, they’ve used the western water lot for the seaplane and Hullo Ferries terminal, and there were previously approved plans to turn the eastern water lot — where the floating hotel would be located — into a marina for large yachts.

During the public hearing, Graham Clarke, who owns the company behind VHFC, told City Council that if the floating hotel is rejected, he could revisit plans for a marina for massive yachts — potentially for numerous vessels that could be even larger than the floating hotel, which would obscure more of the views and provide no public access as it would be completely gated. He said his water lot rights permit such an alternative concept.

Upon inquiry, Sunborn Vancouver told Daily Hive Urbanized this week that they are aware of the new legal challenge by the union and continue to believe their proposal underwent a fair and transparent public process and was appropriately approved by City Council.

“Sunborn Vancouver is a unique new floating hotel that will create 250 hotel rooms, add 200 jobs, and bolster tourism in the downtown core. The project was approved by the City of Vancouver at a public hearing on April 14, 2026, following the City of Vancouver’s rezoning process including public engagement,” reads the company’s statement.

“We are aware of the petition, and remain confident in both the integrity of the City’s public process and the merits of the project.”

vancouver convention centre west marina cancelled concept

Previous 2009-approved concept for the new yacht marina in front of the West Building of the Vancouver Convention Centre, contrasted with the newly approved Sunborn Evolution Vancouver floating hotel concept. (MCMP)

Previous plan for a new marina on the water lot in front of Vancouver Convention Centre’s West Building. (Colliers International Unique Properties)

Previous plan for a new marina on the water lot in front of Vancouver Convention Centre’s West Building. (Colliers International Unique Properties)

Although Unite Here Local 40 represents thousands of hotel and other hospitality workers in Metro Vancouver and elsewhere in B.C., they have been highly vocal in their opposition to a number of hotel projects — such as last month’s approvals of the hotel projects at 888–896 Cambie St. (new mixed-use Yaletown Marriott hotel and rental housing) and 888 West 8th Ave. — and the City of Vancouver’s various recently enacted strategies to help catalyze new hotel developments to support jobs, tourism, and the broader economy.

According to Destination Vancouver, the city faces a growing, immense hotel room shortage that is pushing up nightly rates, threatening tourism and economic benefits, and increasingly making the region less competitive for attracting conventions and major events.

The union asserts the City should focus on catalyzing more affordable housing for “modest- and lower-income residents,” including for their members who work in the hotels.

Unite Here Local 40 has also made headlines in recent years for its major labour disputes at Metro Vancouver hotels, including the strike of workers at Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel that ended in 2023 after 14 months. At the end of that prolonged strike, it was stated that workers had won a 31 per cent wage increase over the life of their new contract, reaching $30.00 per hour for room attendants.

In 2024, they secured a 34 per cent pay increase for workers at Hyatt Regency Vancouver Hotel, Westin Bayshore Vancouver Hotel, and Pinnacle Harbourfront Hotel, with wages going up by 34 per cent over the contract term, reaching $37 per hour by 2027.

Then in late 2025, they reached an agreement for workers at Hyatt Vancouver Downtown Alberni (the former Shangri-La Vancouver Hotel, which will be permanently rebranded as the Park Hyatt Vancouver Hotel later in 2026) that sees their wages reach about $40 per hour by 2028 — representing wage gains of 25 per cent to 50 per cent over the three-year life of the contract.

“Hyatt Alberni workers joined Local 40 in July 2025. Their victory is part of a growing wave of hospitality workers rising up across B.C. This year alone, hundreds of workers at the Georgian Court Hotel, Vancouver Airport Marriott, Landsea Hospitality, Blackwater Mine, and other sites have unionized—showing that hospitality workers are on the move, standing strong, and reshaping the industry together,” reads a release from the union in December 2025.

Early this month, the union announced that over 1,500 workers at Vancouver International Airport under their representation had signed a petition demanding a $1,000 FIFA World Cup bonus.

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